Ewan and Owen Do New Zealand

A quiet day in Christchurch as we get ready to head home tomorrow - Quake museum and a stroll round the still rebuilding CBD

Drive to Grey mouth and then the Transalpine express to Christchurch - ordinarily it would be a stunning journey but a few days after Milford and Franz J - it doesn't quite cut the mustard

More flying over glaciers

Flying over the divide from Franz Josef to Tasman glaciers

Lots of driving and a Kea surprise! 400km from QT to Franz Josef only to find our Helicopter flight was postponed due to weather. Supper at a local restaurant was made much more interesting by the arrival of 5 Kea -super smart endangered endemic to NZ parrot - less than 10k left in wild

Milford Sound today and it was totally worth the 4hrs there and back! We were really lucky as there was heavy rain a couple of hours before we arrived so many many waterfalls there despite it being an extremely dry summer in NZ.

Another LOTR day - Isenguard, the fall of Isildor, gold panning at the ford of Bruinen, Po-Ta-Tos!

Jet boats and Kiwis today!

Dunedin to Queenstown, followed by Skyline Luge (again) and a quiet evening enjoying the view

The Albatross Diversion - yes they are big seagulls but they are SERIOUSLY big seagulls....

No star gazing last night due to bad weather so a gentle drive from Lake Tekapo to Dunedin today via some geologically cool boulders

Two day update - 400km drive from Kaikōura to Lake Tekapo (but as always this was pretty stunning and we appreciated the 28km straight road we found). The full day at Lake Tekapo was due to be a rest day but instead we drove to Lake Pukaki, then Mount Cook reserve and trecked the 11km of the Hooker lake trail to see a glacier and get pretty close to Mount Cook. Weather turned as we got there so no great view but again a stunningly beautiful adventure :)

Saw three Sperm whales on our flight this morning - Owen co-piloting, then a seal colony in the afternoon

Driving today - through the sprawling vineyards of Marlborough to the eastern coast down to Kaikōura - stunning views the whole way along with a seal pitstop - tomorrow we go whale spotting!

Ferry from Wellington to Picton today - goodbye North Island - Arrived at hotel early so found a hike to the top of a dormant volcano which we did in the midday sun in true foolish English tradition :)

Another LOTR day with some shooting locations local to Wellington and a tour of the Weta cave and some time in the Museum of New Zealand

300km drive today from Napier to Wellington - strolled round Wellington in the afternoon to find comic and guitar shops